dalelandsbeyondfandomcom-20200214-history
Yuan-ti
Yuan-Ti Regions : Chult, Hlondeth, Tashalar, Western Heartlands. The yuan-ti are a race of snake people descended from an unholy crossbreeding between humans and an ancient reptilian race. They come in three distinctly different forms (purebloods, halfbloods, and abominations), and they have created two subraces of servitors as well (tainted ones and broodguards). Together, they form a horrific threat to the rest of Faerûn. This section discusses the purebloods and tainted ones, the yuan-ti most likely to be found as adventurers or spies in humanoid lands. Tainted ones are humanoids who have been corrupted by drinking a special yuan-ti elixir. The result is a person who looks almost exactly like his normal self, but whose mind has been twisted to the yuan-ti way. They serve as yuan-ti agents and spies in humanoid lands. Tainted ones sometimes develop distinctive mannerisms such as licking their lips constantly, drawing out their sibilants when speaking, or keeping large serpents as pets. All of the true yuan-ti subraces can interbreed, although most stick to their own kind. Yuan-ti lay eggs, like reptiles. The hatchlings from these eggs reach adulthood at about 12 years of age. On average, yuan-ti live to be about 80 years old, although some have been known to live over 120 years. Physical appearance Purebloods have some serpentine characteristics, but can generally pass for human. They are the weakest of the true yuan-ti, serving as overseers and taskmasters over the yuan-ti servitors and slaves, as well as spies and assassins. Purebloods have subtle reptilian features, such as snake eyes, forked tongues, pointed teeth, patches of scaly skin, and the like. They are human-sized. Purebloods answer to the halfbloods and the abominations, even more powerful creatures whose serpentine features are too pronounced to allow them to infiltrate humanoid society without powerful magic. Yuan-ti have the same life expectancy and age categories as humans. Outlook All yuan-ti—even the servitors—are arrogant, convinced that their race is superior to all others. They believe it is only a matter of time before their machinations allow them to take over the nations of Faerûn from within. While they are not averse to open battle and actually excel at it, they realize that they are greatly outnumbered by their chosen foes, and prefer to use more subtle means to weaken their enemies from within. From the moment they are hatched, young yuan-ti are led to believe that the world once belonged to their ancestors, the saurians. As such, it rightly belongs to them, and it is only a matter of time before they recover it. This justifies any kind of evil they may do to the peoples of Faerûn. After all, they are not proposing to take over someone else’s country. They simply want back what is rightfully theirs, and they are prepared to go to any lengths to get it. The yuan-ti spend a great deal of time hiding in the wild, hunting for their food while they wait for their tainted ones to bring them the information they need to be able to plan an attack. For this reason, they often end up as rangers. However, they are devout worshipers of Sseth, the yuan-ti god, so there are a number of clerics within their ranks too. Most yuan-ti become adventurers because they want to increase their own standing within their communities. Tainted ones, in particular, are often found far from any yuan-ti home, since it is their task to infiltrate humanoid society in preparation for the next attack. Relations with other races Yuan-ti don’t care for any of the other races. However, they have a special relationship with humans, since they are one of the races from which yuan-ti are descended. Yuan-ti wish to conquer, enslave, or assimilate (via their servitor draught) as many humans as possible. In return, humans loathe and fear the yuan-ti.